DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team will close the regular season on Saturday, hosting Crown College with the winner of the game earning the No. 3 seed for next week's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament, while the loser falling to the No. 4 seed and having to host an Opening Round game Monday night.
Where:
Reif Gymnasium – Duluth, Minn.
When:
Saturday at 4:45 p.m.
Live Video: https://csssaints.com/watch/?Live=287
Live Stats: https://csssaints.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Social Media:
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/Csssaintsbball
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/csssaints
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/csssaints
St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 14-10, 10-5 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
What You Need to Know about the Saints:
-The Saints will honor their five seniors on Saturday.
-The senior class of
Connor Gray (Superior, Wis./Superior HS),
Mitch Liebert (Rogers, Minn./Rogers HS),
Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS),
Sam Thompson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) and
Nate Weets (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) is the winningest in program history.
-The class will be in search of its fourth consecutive season with at least 15 wins, something that has never been done in program history.
-Junior
Collin Anderson (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) will become the 12
th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points on either his first made field goal or his first two free throws on Saturday.
-Anderson leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.0 points per game, despite only starting one game this year.
-
Quinn Fischer (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) scored a season-high 27 points in Wednesday night's win over Northland College.
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Sam Thompson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) also had a career-high 23 points, making seven, 3-pointers in the process.
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Jarod Wilken (Annandale, Minn./Annandale HS) had a nice all-around game on Wednesday with 13 points, eight of which coming in the final 10 minutes, eight rebounds and six assists.
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Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) is 10 points shy of 1,500 in his career.
-Newman has made 112 free throws this season, which matches his career-high. He is 17 shy of the single-season program record.
What You Need to Know about Crown:
Record: 16-8, 10-5 UMAC
-The Storm will enter Saturday's contest as the second-hottest team in the conference, having won four straight games.
-Crown has beaten each of the top two teams in the conference this season (Northwestern/Bethany Lutheran).
-Three of the five losses in conference play have been by three points or less with the CSS loss in January its worst league defeat.
-The Storm is the UMAC's top scoring team, averaging 89.3 points per game. (CSS is the top-scoring defense, allowing 72.3 points per game)
-Crown is second to only the Saints in 3-pointers made (236).
-The Storm are the best free throw shooting team in league, just ahead of the Saints, at .77 percent.
-Tim Wendel is the conference's leading scorer, averaging 21.6 points per game.
-Wendel was in foul trouble in the first meeting against CSS and was held to just nine points.
-Wendel also ranks second in the league, averaging 9.5 rebounds per game.
-Other 3-point shooters to watch will be Gunnar Ledin and Josh Volness.
-Keegan Oyugi is tied for the conference lead with a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Series Record: CSS leads 36-5
(Last Meeting: 96-79 CSS – 1/12/2019)
Series History: The Saints have won four straight in the series and are 18-1 at home against the Storm all-time … CSS has scored at least 90 points in each of the last three meetings.
Looking Ahead: The winner of Saturday's game will travel to Bethany Lutheran College next Wednesday for a UMAC Tournament semifinal contest. The loser on Saturday will host a UMAC Tournament first round game on Monday against either Northland College or University of Minnesota Morris.
